


After The War

by RobinPlaysTrumpet15



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Cute, Fix-It, Fluff, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, do not copy to another site, except Palpatine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24780385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinPlaysTrumpet15/pseuds/RobinPlaysTrumpet15
Summary: "After the war,"they'd promised.After the war...
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 278





	After The War

The end of the war was not peaceful. It was not quiet relief and exhausted sighs, or people slowly finding their way back to “normal” life again.

The end of the war came with thunderous cheers from 3.2 million clone troopers, spread across the galaxy. It was clapping hands on plastoid-armored shoulders and backs, tearful cries, and whooping hollers. Clones and their siblings shouted and jumped, crushing the last bits of the separatist droids beneath their boots.

After Palpatine’s death, and the subsequent arrests of Dooku and Grievous, peace talks were simple. The war ended quickly, and with it came several new bits of legislation.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems was formally established and recognized by the Republic. Planets and worlds were left to decide where they would rather be. Senator Organa became Chancellor Organa. The Jedi were declared an independent religious group once again, and no longer a part of the GAR. The Senate was also out of their business and would no longer be giving the Council orders where they shouldn’t have been.

At the same time, Senators Amidalla, Chuchi, and a few others came forward with a bill declaring the clone troopers of the GAR sentient beings and granting them status as Republic citizens with all the rights that came along with it. It passed almost without a hitch.

The cheers from the clones that came after that deafened the galaxy once more - even more than they had upon the peace treaty being signed.

Individual companies and battalions watched on the holo-cast as the bill was signed into law by Chancellor Organa with his official stamp of approval. And just like that, they were all citizens. Before long, they would have birth certificates and social security numbers and official IDs.

But what some cared about most was the newfound legal ability to choose. They chose where to live, whether to stay with the GAR or not. They chose which brothers to lead lives with and what kinds of lives those would be.

Cody knew what kind of life he wanted.

The day he became a citizen, he could hardly contain his joy. Any trooper who’d ever worked with or heard of Marshal Commander Cody of the 212th Attack Battalion would tell you of his no-nonsense nature. They would talk about how he didn’t smile often, outside of a smirk. He was all cutting wits and dry humor.

Instead, he jumped and cheered with the rest of them. He whooped and screamed and laughed and shouted. He hugged his brothers and got hugged in return.

Best of all, though, was watching his general.

Obi-Wan looked younger and happier than Cody had literally ever seen him. There were tears in his blue eyes - happy and excited. He was swarmed on all sides by over-excited troopers looking to express their excitement in bear hugs and hollered whistles.

He was gorgeous.

And Cody couldn’t take his eyes off him.

_”After the war…”_ They’d promised.

After the war…

Back then, it had seemed so long ago. Since that night, they’d been closer. Cody was warmer and Obi-Wan rested more. (Not by much, but Cody would take his victories where he could get them.) They’d kissed and they hugged and they shared a bed together most nights.

They’d had bad times…

And they’d had good times.

But they’d gone through a war that had been all but guaranteed to kill them and came out breathing on the other side.

_”After the war…”_

They’d promised each other.

Cody was done waiting.

He made up his mind, resolute in his decision, and pushed his way through the throng of his celebrating brothers.

Obi-Wan noticed him at the same moment his brothers parted to allow him through. The Jedi’s smile became impossibly wider as his blue eyes landed on Cody. They sparkled and shone with unshed tears of excitement and mirth. Relief smoothed the lines in his face, allowing Cody a good look at the man who lived beneath stress lines and some premature wrinkles. It wasn’t his first look, but it was one of his favorite views nonetheless and every time was like the first.

“Cody!” Obi-Wan called out to him, moved out from under Boil’s hold to meet his commander.

Cody caught the auburn haired man in his arms, wrapping his _Jetii_ up tight. He buried his nose into Obi-Wan’s neck, taking a deep breath and letting the scent of his _cyare_ wash across his senses.

He could hardly even _sleep_ without Obi-Wan anymore, and Stars help him if none of his bedding had been used recently.

Obi-Wan hugged Cody back just as tightly. He allowed himself to be lifted and squeezed, as if Obi-Wan was a child again instead of a fully grown man.

Cody pulled away with a mixture of hesitation, excitement, and nervous energy.

_”After the war…”_ they’d promised. _”After the war.”_

Cody took a deep breath, his eyes closed. When he released the air, he opened his eyes to find Obi-Wan staring at him with irises in Cody’s favorite shade of blue.

“Years ago, you promised me. We promised each other-” Cody swallowed against the crack in his voice. “After the war.”

Obi-Wan’s expression lit up in understanding.

“After the war,” he repeated, almost reverent.

Cody took a steadying breath, willing himself not to stutter or pass out on the spot.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” he started confidently, “will you marry me?”

Tears were in Obi-Wan’s eyes and down his cheeks before Cody even knew what to do. Then he was nodding his head furiously and throwing himself into Cody’s arms once again.

“ _Elek_!” Obi-Wan cried. “Yes! Yes, of course!”

Cody caught his general - his _fiance_ \- instinctively, clutching him close to his chest. It took nearly a full minute for Obi-Wan’s response to register in his brain.

“Y-yes?” he clarified, nearly shaking.

Quick nods pressed into Cody’s shoulder immediately.

“Yes, of course.”

Obi-Wan pulled away from Cody, settling to stand on the floor again. He wasn’t much shorter than Cody was. Another few inches and they’d be the same height.

“Of course I’ll marry you, Cody,” he told him, clear and gentle. Tears were still falling down his cheeks.

Cody grinned and kissed him - right in front of the whole 212th.

Months later, they would do it again, but in front of even more of their friends and family.

Planning for their wedding had been delayed a few times.

What remained of the GAR was repurposed and reassigned. No small amount of troopers formally retired and settled down on various planets that were welcoming veterans with open arms, but plenty more stayed. They were no longer an army and now worked closely with the different branches of the Jedi Service Corps. The Agricorps and Educorps gladly took any troopers who were willing, but many were shuffled into the folds of Medical and Exploration.

With the newfound numbers, and with more civilians volunteering daily, clean-up of the galaxy went quicker than anyone would have expected. Battlefields were cleaned up, native plants and fauna replanted and taken care of. Refugees were returned to their homes as often as possible, and where they couldn’t be, the clones were all too happy to help them find new ones.

At the same time, Kamino’s cloning facilities had been shut down, and mostly operated in a medical capacity now. The head doctors worked to reverse the accelerated aging, starting with some of the oldest men and working down to the very last batch that had decanted just before the treaty.

All things considered, it felt like no time at all before things were dying down a bit and settling into the new normal. But it hadn’t left much time for wedding planning.

Until, of course, Cody and Obi-Wan suddenly found themselves with nothing left to do except think about the future.

Cody had taken to living with Obi-Wan in the Temple. Currently, it wasn’t uncommon to find clones living there, either in empty suites or with their former Jedi Generals. Force knew Plo Koon had a whole mess of the Wolfpack piled into his rooms. The troopers were happy to sleep on borrowed or makeshift mattresses and beds on the floors, piled all over one another like dogs.

Anakin’s former padawan room in Obi-Wan’s quarters had been commandeered by a mixture of 212th and 501st troopers, including Rex, Jesse, Kix, and Boil. Anakin had formally left the Order after the war was over, announcing his marriage to Senator Amidalla, along with her pregnancy. The clones were welcome to stay with them, but with two new babies and Ahsoka in the apartment, they often chose to visit rather than stay.

Cody woke slowly, a leisure he’d rarely experienced in his life. Obi-Wan’s bed in the Temple was softer than anything he’d ever slept on before - all cushion-y mattress and warm, fluffy blankets. Obi-Wan would never admit it to anyone, but he preferred softer sleeping arrangement. That included plenty of comforting blankets and pillows that sometimes got kicked off the bed in the middle of the night.

The bed itself was large enough for two grown men, if only because they’d become accustomed to sleeping in bunks on the _Negotiator_ that decidedly _weren’t_ big enough. Cody almost had room to spread out, nearly without knocking Obi-Wan. Not that he did. They curled into one another and held on tightly, as they had done since beginning to share sleeping quarters.

Bright, Coruscanti morning light filtered into the bedroom through the blinds on the window. Obi-Wan was still asleep, breathing peacefully. In the past weeks and months, the stress lines Cody had known since meeting the man had melted away. There was still gray hair at his temples, mixing in with the shining, auburn red. The Jedi had trimmed his hair shorter again, combing it to the side so it fell in his face even less.

He was beautiful. Gorgeous. Cody would love him no matter what he looked like, but he wouldn’t deny that his fiance - _fiance!!!_ \- was attractive.

It had been nearly half a year since his spontaneous proposal. The world was regaining a sense of normalcy the clones had never really known. Cody was learning to live life as a part of the Educational Corps, living within the Temple with the love of his life and his brothers surrounding him.

It occurred to him later, as he ate breakfast with Obi-Wan, Rex, Quinlan, Bly, and Aayla, that they had yet to make any plans for their upcoming wedding.

He said as much, dumbfounded and staring at Obi-Wan, his forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth.

Obi-Wan paused as well, frowning at him. Then his eyes turned to the side to stare hard at the table.

“We haven’t, have we?” he said, letting his hand drop back to the table. “Huh…”

“You haven’t made plans yet?” Rex asked, incredulously.

“Not _any_?” Bly repeated.

Cody and Obi-Wan both shook their heads.

Aayla shook her head in disbelief.

“Really, Obi-Wan,” Quinlan said. “You’ve got to be joking. The two of you are masters of planning. You don’t do anything without a plan, and you certainly don’t put off making them.”

“How have you managed this long?” Rex asked. “Isn’t it driving you crazy?”

Obi-Wan’s eyes met Cody’s. They shrugged together.

“There have been other things going on,” Obi-Wan offered. “And it would be more of a formality at this point than anything else.”

Cody nodded his agreement. The wedding, when it eventually happened, would likely be one of the happiest moments of his life. But truth be told, not much would change outside of their marriage being official and recognized by the Senate.

“I can’t believe this,” Bly sighed, slumping into his chair. “You two are some of the most elite commanding officers to ever come out of the Jedi Order or the GAR, you plan everything to a T, leaving no detail forgotten-”

“And yet, one of the biggest ceremonies of your _lives_ has gone unplanned and ignored for _months_?”

Instead of responding to his brothers, Cody looked to Obi-Wan.

“Do we have plans today?”

Obi-Wan thought for a moment, then pulled out his datapad from the pocket in his robe. He scrolled and tapped around on the screen.

“I have a Council meeting just after lunch, but it shouldn’t take long at all. Just some brief reports about the _vod’ike_ on Kamino and the progress on that front.”

Cody nodded.

“Sounds like we’re planning a wedding today, then,” he offered with a teasing smile.

Obi-Wan returned the expression with a beaming grin of his own. “Yes, it sounds like we are.”

Cody went back to his breakfast, pointedly ignoring the dumbfounded looks and exasperated exclamations from his brothers and friends.

*

It somehow took more and less time than Cody had expected to plan a wedding. This was mostly due to the fact that Jedi didn’t have wedding traditions since they traditionally _didn’t_ get married and Obi-Wan asking if the _Vode_ had wedding traditions, of which-

Cody wasn’t actually sure. He was vaguely aware that Mandalorians had wedding traditions, but that information hadn’t been of the utmost importance in his training. Up until recently, the _vode_ hadn’t legally been allowed to get married. Some had, of course, but to most, it wasn’t even a thought to be considered. He’d heard briefly about some almost-traditions some brothers partook in, but he wasn’t sure Obi-Wan would want to share in those.

Which led to sitting down and looking up wedding traditions on the holonet.

“Jango and the other Mandalorian trainers made sure you knew your heritage as _Mando’ade_ , right?” Obi-Wan asked, scrolling through an article Cody couldn’t see.

Cody nodded. “Yeah, he actually taught us a lot about the culture. But some of it, the _Kaminiise_ told him would never apply to us and told him not to bother.”

“Like wedding traditions?”

“He told me about them once, because I’d asked. But I don’t remember what they were.”

Obi-Wan nodded.

“A Mandalorian wedding is pretty simple,” he said. “There are vows we say to each other in private, just the two of us, and then there’s supposed to be a big celebration with our clans afterward.”

“And that’s it?” Cody asked.

“That’s it.”

Cody paused, thinking.

“I’ve heard that some of the _vode_ exchanged vambraces with their significant others when they got married,” he offered.

Obi-Wan nodded.

“Is that something you would want to do?”

“If you want.”

The Jedi leveled him with a serious look.

“Cody, this is your wedding, too.” He reached out, taking one of Cody’s hands in his to hold. “We can do as much or as little as you want.”

They locked eyes for several silent seconds - Cody thinking and Obi-Wan waiting.

“Okay?” the ginger prompted.

Cody nodded. “Okay.”

Obi-Wan smiled. “Good. So… are we exchanging armor?”

“Yeah,” Cody decided after a second more of deliberation. “I’d like to.”

His fiance nodded in acknowledgement, turning contemplative and putting a hand to his chin.

“I suppose this means I’ll have to dig out my armor, huh?”

Cody laughed.

*

The war had ended months ago. It had been nearly a year now. The galaxy was far from being back to normal and far from healed, but it was getting there. A new normal was appearing out of the mess and chaos.

Cody’s new normal stood before him.

Obi-Wan looked lovely, dressed in deep, muted blues and shining golds. His hair, redder than Cody remembered it being once upon a time, gleamed in the late sunset light. His beard was neat and trimmed as it always was, smile lines gracing his pale, freckled skin.

They stood on a balcony together on Coruscant, just outside the large hall in the Temple they’d chosen for the ceremony. No one was with them, but they knew everyone was waiting. They were just inside, separated by the thick glass doors and drawn curtains for privacy.

“Ready?” Obi-Wan asked him.

Cody smiled, soft and sure.

“Of course.”

They clasped hands, holding them between one another. Cody wore a white vambrace on his right forearm that didn’t match the orange and gold one on his left. Obi-Wan’s right arm sported the match, clashing with the white on his other.

Cody took a breath and Obi-Wan copied him. Together, they began to recite the words they’d memorized.

“ _Mhi solus tome,_ ”

We are one when together,

“ _Mhi solus dar’tome,_ ”

We are one when apart,

“ _Mhi me’dinue an,_ ”

We will share all,

“ _Mhi ba’juri verde._ ”

We will raise warriors.

Obi-Wan beamed, tears in his eyes.

“I have one more thing for you,” he said. Carefully, he reached a hand into his pocket. Cody held out his hand, letting Obi-Wan deposit whatever it was into his palm.

In his hand sat a small, blue crystal. It sparkled in a way Cody thought only stars could. It was warm to the touch, and not because of Obi-Wan’s hand. It called to him. A warm, peaceful feeling spread through Cody, seeping into his muscles and settling in his lungs and the spaces between his ribs.

It dawned on him that this was a lightsaber crystal. And not just any crystal. It was Obi-Wan’s.

He looked up to Obi-Wan’s face again, feeling very nearly shocked.

“I’m going to leave the Order. I choose you, Cody. _Ner Kote._ Now and forever.”

Cody touched their foreheads together. When he spoke, his voice was low and quiet, thick with tears. He was sure he’d choke if he spoke any louder.

“ _Ni gaanade gar,_ Obi-Wan _. Ner ka’rta. Jii bal darasuum_.”

Obi-Wan kissed him then, throwing his armored arms around Cody’s shoulders and holding him close. Cody’s hands held firmly to his husband’s waist as he returned the kiss. He deepened it for a moment, before they pulled away.

Obi-Wan was crying, and so was Cody.

In a moment, they would go back inside. They would face their friends and their family, and announce to the world that they were married in every way that counted. But for now - for this one, precious moment - they would stay here, basking in the golden glow of sunset.

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this. Comments and kudos always appreciated.
> 
> Mando'a Translations:  
>  _Jetii_ \- Jedi  
>  _Cyare_ \- Beloved  
>  _Elek_ \- Yes  
>  _Vod'ike_ \- Little/younger brothers/siblings  
>  _Vode_ \- Brothers  
>  _Mando'ade_ \- Mandalorians, children of Mandalore  
>  _Kaminiise_ \- Kaminoans  
>  _Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinue an, mhi ba'juri verde_ \- We are one when together, we are one when apart. We will share all. We will raise warriors. (Traditional Mandalorian marriage vows)  
>  _Ner Kote_ \- My Cody/Kote  
>  _Ni gaanade gar_ \- I choose you  
>  _Ner ka'rta_ \- My heart  
>  _Jii bal darasuum_ \- Now and forever.


End file.
